Our Story

The founder and inventor of the Hold It Mate products, Brian Johnson, is an entrepreneur/inventor who has always found unique and different ways to get things done. Brian comes from a long line of sales professionals, homebuilders, creative thinkers and of course growers! Most notably was his grandmother Caroline. To friends and family in Minnesota she was known for her ability to grow anything at anytime of year. It was remarkable to watch her sprout a seed and to lovingly tend to all of her indoor and outdoor plants. This has been carried on by Brian’s mother, who also has an abundant collection of foliage, flowers and herbs in and around her home at all times.

While Brian was researching garden products, he discovered a gapping hole in deck/balcony hardware. HIs discovery? Every bracket for planter boxes, or hooks for hanging plants, etc. were either really flimsy or need to be screwed into a wall, post or on a railing. But with the vast amount of metal railings - these systems are nearly useless. The ones designed to hang over the railing are so poorly designed - many would scratch a railing and many fall off in high winds. Besides the obvious...the railing is a HAND railing for support, it doesn't make sense one would want to hang things from it. The design of Hold It Mate began to come to light!

Hold It Mate Mounting Rails are built from heavy duty 14 gauge powder coated steel and includes stainless steel hardware for a long life. The mounting rails and hardware virtually disappear once your plants are up and growing. By connecting a mounting rail to your railing, you now can add any Hold It Mate accessory you like! Hold It Mate Systems will connect to vertical round, square or rectangular aluminum, wrought iron, PVC & wood spindles/balusters or pickets - whatever you call them! Each kit contains hardware that will connect to spindles that are from 1/2" to 1 1/2" thick. Most aluminum spindles are 3/4" and wood spindles are usually 1 1/4". We wanted this system to be as universal as possible, so we include hardware to fit on the range of spindles above in every kit. The system won't harm your railing, they simply press together forming a tight bond - which in turn will allow you to add our patent pending accessories and enjoy your plants at a variety of heights on your railing! That is the beauty of this system - the ability to connect them at any height that is desirable. Block a view, create a vertical garden, hang flower baskets, set up a shelf next to your grill or use as a drink ledge! The system is designed for you to be creative! Which is why our tag line is: ReConnect with your deck, with Hold It Mate!

We want to welcome you to our family of Hold It Mate fans! We would love to hear from you, let us know your thoughts on how it went together for you...usually in minutes! Send us photos of your Hold It Mate Systems in action. We look forward to showcasing a section of our website to our customers with your pictures and ideas.